Ticket machines that don’t give change cost bus passengers £2m

Passengers have overpaid more than £2 million at bus stop ticket machines that do not give change, the Standard can reveal today.

The single cash bus fare is £2.30 but many travellers end up paying more. Transport for London pockets the extra cash as legitimate fares income and ploughs it back into the bus network.

A Freedom of Information request revealed that TfL collected £2.2 million in overpayments in the past seven years. Passengers overpaid by £737,032 in 2005 —about 2.86 per cent of the total collected from the machines that year. The following year the figure was £658,528. Between January and July this year they overpaid by £153,615.

Richard Freeston-Clough, of transport watchdog London Travelwatch, said: “We are not surprised as you need at least three coins to make up a £2.30 fare and for a lot of people it is quite difficult to find this combination. We have been campaigning for them to be taken away as they have been unreliable and often resulted in buses spending longer at bus stops. We are pleased that by February all London buses will accept cash on the bus.”

Clare Kavanagh, London Buses director of performance, said: “The vast majority of people travelling on buses in London do so using a Travelcard or Oyster card, with only one per cent paying a cash fare.

“These roadside ticket machines are used, on average, once an hour and are costing £1.9 million a year to maintain. We are therefore consulting on removing them.

“Following their removal cash fares will be accepted on all buses. However, Oyster card remains the cheapest option. Overpayments are used to fund the continued provision of the bus services in the capital.”